Accomack board doesn't use the library

Only 1 of 9 have cards

Aug. 27, 2013

Written by

Staff Writer

ACCOMAC — Before he made the motion to deny a request for money to build a new library, Accomack County Supervisor Robert Crockett said, “Everybody on this board supports the library.”

But almost no one on the Board of Supervisors has a library card— in fact, of nine county supervisors, only one, Chairman Donald L. Hart Jr., has a library card, according to information the Eastern Shore Public Library provided in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.

The board voted 6-3 to turn down a request for $6 million to help build a new main library on donated land in Onley, with several in the majority saying it would necessitate a tax increase.

Many of their constituents do have library cards, and use them.

About 16,500 Accomack and Northampton county residents, about one third of each county’s total population, have a library card.

It takes on average three to four minutes to apply for a library card, which is free, a staff member said. If a card is lost, it costs $1 to replace it.

Library Director Carol Vincent in November updated the Board of Supervisors about the need for a new facility and gave details about the current building’s size and condition as well as use.

The number of items borrowed has steadily increased during Vincent’s seven years as director, she said. Circulation went up about 50 percent during the period.

Last year alone 152,000 items were circulated.

In addition to checking out items, many library card holders come to the building to use publicly accessible computers or the library’s WiFi.

Crockett said Friday he did have a library card at one time, but “apparently it’s been a good while since I’ve used it.”

While he has not used the library himself for some time, Crockett said he believes public libraries are a valuable community resource. “It’s the cost,” that is his problem with the proposal, he said.

Along with the construction cost is a request for $75,000 more per year to operate the larger facility, a 20 percent increase, Crockett said.

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Supervisor Wanda Thornton of Chincoteague seconded Crockett’s motion and also does not possess a library card.

“I do not utilize the library. I think it’s a wonderful resource, but it’s too much money to spend,” Thornton said Friday.

Thornton does not use the library for either pleasure reading or research.

“I do all my research online ... I have several computers,” she said.

As for reading material, Thornton said her friends keep her supplied with books they think she would enjoy — she has five to read now, including a biography of Calvin Coolidge.

But she is not a fiction reader.

“I read all the time, but I don’t read fiction ... I work,” she said.

If she has free time, she said she prefers spending it with her grandchildren to reading a novel.

Thornton noted several factors explaining why she voted against paying for a library, including the fact that Chincoteague residents saw a 3 cent per $100 value real estate tax increase this year due to the island’s inclusion in the countywide fire tax.

She also said many residents got a tax hike after the last real estate reassessment, when the rate was adjusted upwards by 6 cents to account for lower valuations, but many on Chincoteague did not see their assessments go down.

And Chincoteague’s school for the first year in memory had over half its students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

“It’s just not realistic in my mind, not for a poor county like this,” she said.

Supervisor Ron Wolff until Wednesday served on the library foundation board and made an unsuccessful motion to grant the request for funds. He doesn’t have a library card, either, but his wife and a grandson in his household do.

“I don’t use it that much, to be perfectly honest. I don’t know how relevant that is,” Wolff said, adding, “I’m a big supporter of the library. I think it has a lot of benefits, particularly to young people.”

The former teacher said he regularly sent his students to either the public or school library to conduct research as part of their education. “We’d just give them that experience,” he said.

Wolff submitted his resignation from the library foundation board after one county supervisor, who he did not name, asked the county attorney to investigate whether it would be a conflict of interest for him to vote on the library’s request — although Wolff is not compensated for being on the foundation board and said he “could not for the life of me see it being a conflict of interest.”

Wolff’s academic background is history and he mentioned one benefit of the new library not brought up at Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

“If nothing else, the Eastern Shore Room has so much information; people all the time access that, and not just people from here,” he said.

The library’s plan to replace the current 11,500-square-foot main branch in Accomac with a new, 32,000-square-foot structure includes significantly more room for the local history collection, among other improvements.